Insignia Infocast 8" Touchscreen $99

[pete_c]

I purchased a "few" of the older style Trendnet USB to NIC devices. I have two Chumby's that drop on/off the network at odd times. Yesterday installed one Trendnet on the little Infocast and it is no longer dropping from the network (and it had the little wireless antenna hanging from the back of it.) The other "problem" one is an 8" Infocast and will change that one over today. Earlier I tried one of the newer smaller footprint Mac style USB to NIC devices but it didn't get recognized. The Trendnet is much larger but its recognized right away.

 

[apostolakisl]

As much as I would love to get my chumby working with this program, I look through what you guys have been doing and realize that there is just no way I have the time to figure all of this out.

So, what do I have to do to get someone else to do it for me ? I am hoping to get it talking to my ISY-99 with the network module.

 

[pete_c]

Lou,

The addition server allows for two way communications to the Chumby. So you have control of the hardware - IE like dimming it or having it do stuff like play music etc...the other options are like a status screen of your HA devices and finally control of said HA devices.

I didn't see an ISY-99 XPL interface but really didn't look very much and would tend to guess that maybe there is one out there.

Here's a PHP interface for the ISY device which you "could" work into the Panel builder application.

ISY PHP

I'm still at the basics and in a learning mode as I've never played with XPL before and only familiar with XAP; so going very slow right now. What I've done works so far.

 

[apostolakisl]

Thanks Pete. I have done some html and a little php, never touched xpl. Maybe when we hit the heat of the summer and I stop doing yard work I'll try tackling this.

 

[pete_c]

Lou,

Start slow and take your time. You can clip and paste the PHP scripts posted; edit them such that you have matching button on the Infocast and talk to your ISY via your LAMP server. I am running a LAMP server on a very old 1.0Ghz PIII - pushing it a bit. Do a google search for the "best" LAMP server; there are plenty of installation ISO's out there. Mine is an Ubuntu 10.10 based LAMP server. Give it a try; as this piece is plug n play. Give it a static IP and post the results. (really just looking to validate Apache2, PHP and MySQL running).

 

[pete_c]

Thanks Damage.

Moved this from Dockstar to Chumby.

Quick synopsis: I installed Debian Lenny on a 2GB SD card and have the Infocast booting into X windows. It runs decently. Keyboard, mouse, and touch screen work well.

I am not sure if it is suspended. The backlight appears to be shutting off.

I can't turn it on again unless I touch the screen. When its in this mode (screen off) though I can't turn on the backlight using the backlight command.

I was just looking at the hardware with hardware info. It shows the mouse as:

17: PS/2 00.0: 10500 PS/2 Mouse
[Created at input.183]
Unique ID: AH6Q.mxPbewtbH+D
Hardware Class: mouse
Model: "Silvermoon Touchscreen"
Vendor: 0xdead
Device: 0xbeef "Silvermoon Touchscreen"
Compatible to: int 0x0210 0x0000
Device File: /dev/input/mice (/dev/input/mouse1)
Device Files: /dev/input/mice, /dev/input/mouse1, /dev/input/event2
Device Number: char 13:63 (char 13:33)
Driver Info #0:
Buttons: 0
Wheels: 0
XFree86 Protocol: explorerps/2
GPM Protocol: exps2
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

chumby_sense1 4416 0 - Live 0xbf0b3000
chumby_timer 4252 0 - Live 0xbf0ac000
chumby_silvermoon_bl 2308 0 - Live 0xbf0a6000
backlight 4228 1 chumby_silvermoon_bl, Live 0xbf09f000
pegasus 22512 0 - Live 0xbf094000
sd8xxx 138630 0 - Live 0xbf070000
bmm 5608 0 - Live 0xbf069000
snd_soc_silvermoon 3236 0 - Live 0xbf063000
snd_soc_pxa3xx 4288 1 snd_soc_silvermoon, Live 0xbf05f000
snd_soc_pxa3xx_ssp 5504 1 snd_soc_silvermoon, Live 0xbf05b000
snd_soc_wm8961 16924 1 snd_soc_silvermoon, Live 0xbf051000
snd_soc_core 29032 3 snd_soc_silvermoon,snd_soc_pxa3xx,snd_soc_wm8961, Live 0xbf047000
snd_pcm 65092 3 snd_soc_pxa3xx,snd_soc_pxa3xx_ssp,snd_soc_core, Live 0xbf032000
snd_timer 19364 1 snd_pcm, Live 0xbf028000
snd_page_alloc 6440 1 snd_pcm, Live 0xbf021000
silvermoon_tsb 12088 0 - Live 0xbf019000
i2c_pxa 6880 0 - Live 0xbf012000
i2c_dev 6148 0 - Live 0xbf00b000
i2c_core 20720 3 snd_soc_wm8961,i2c_pxa,i2c_dev, Live 0xbf000000

Got it...for whatever reason I didn't have the env variable set to:

DISPLAY=:0.0

So whenever I played with xset dpms; it didn't work giving me an error.

I still cannot turn the screen back on though.

ICS-Chumby-3:/# xset q
Keyboard Control:
auto repeat: on key click percent: 0 LED mask: 00000000
XKB indicators:
00: Caps Lock: off 01: Num Lock: off 02: Scroll Lock: off
03: Shift Lock: off 04: Group 2: off 05: Mouse Keys: off
auto repeat delay: 500 repeat rate: 20
auto repeating keys: 00ffffffdffffbbf
fadfffdfffdfe5ef
ffffffffffffffff
ffffffffffffffff
bell percent: 50 bell pitch: 400 bell duration: 100
Pointer Control:
acceleration: 2/1 threshold: 4
Screen Saver:
prefer blanking: yes allow exposures: yes
timeout: 600 cycle: 600
Colors:
default colormap: 0x20 BlackPixel: 0 WhitePixel: 16777215
Font Path:
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType
Bug Mode: compatibility mode is disabled
DPMS (Energy Star):
Standby: 1200 Suspend: 1800 Off: 2400
DPMS is Enabled
Monitor is On

So it appears that DPMS is enabled still.

I couldn't disable DPMS for whatever reason so I just changed the settings to:

DPMS (Energy Star):
Standby: 7200 Suspend: 8400 Off: 9600
DPMS is Enabled
Monitor is On

 

[pete_c]

It was the "blanking" interval. I couldn't shut it off unless I went into the X session. I added the DPMS pieces required in the xorg.conf file such that the I8 wouldn't blank or suspend. Works fine now.

Section "Monitor" 
        Identifier      "ICS-Chumby-3 Monitor"
        Option          "DPMS"
Section "ServerFlags"
        Option          "BlankTime"     "0"
        Option          "StandbyTime"   "0"
        Option          "SuspendTime"   "0"
        Option          "OffTime"       "0"

 

[pete_c]

Damage,

I've been using your Python XPL script for the Chumby. I keep adding things to it. My last endeavor is running the Python script on the Joggler.

The script is running fine (I can do much writing to the registers) but its erroring out because I am not sitting at the console. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure that I even did this right; but its working; please let me know if I am using the right syntax.


Python Script add:

elif dev=="monitor" and cur=="on":
os.system('sh /usr/sbin/monitorcontrol.sh on > /tmp/null')

Command:

xplsend xpl-cmnd doghouse-joggler.ICS-5 control.basic device=monitor\ncurrent=on

error is:

xset: unable to open display ":0.0"

...because I am not on the console. Do you know of a way I can do this?

 

[damage]

Pete,

use /dev/null instead of /tmp/null

os.system('sh /usr/sbin/monitorcontrol.sh on > /dev/null')

 

[pete_c]

Thanks Damage. Did another test with X11 forwarding. Looks like it'll work.

 

[pete_c]

Bringing this topic up again for those with Chumby's. For those that utilize XAP for Home automation you can now create custom flash screens in a similiar way to Damage's XPL custom flash screens with a newly released XAP flash.

A little blub about it here:

xAP Flash is a touchscreen based home automation control application written originally for the O2 Joggler. Because it is coded in Flash it can also run on many other devices including Android , Windows mobile, WebOS and also standalone or within most web browsers on a PC . It doesn't however run on the Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch as these devices 'famously' don't support Flash. Apple's Safari web browser on a Mac/PC does work well though.

xAP Flash controls xAP based devices and can integrate with leading home automation software applications that have xAP plugins available, as most do.

xAP Flash is a hobbyist project I wrote for my own interest when I got my Jogglers, my first ever experience with Flash. There have been a dozen or so beta testers and now it is available for anyone to explore although it will likely always remain in progress / a beta release.

Due to limited time I am hoping that existing users will be able to support each other here with help, improved documentation, tips, example screen layouts , graphics etc. and if that works well then I'll look to releasing later versions, with added features.

From here:

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=3223

 

[apostolakisl]

What's going on with Chumby? One of my units stopped working, said I needed to register and go to the chumby website. So I did that, only to discover that all of the chumby websites are dead.

My other chumby is still working???

 

[roussell]

What's going on with Chumby? One of my units stopped working, said I needed to register and go to the chumby website. So I did that, only to discover that all of the chumby websites are dead.

My other chumby is still working???

Hmm, I've got 7 and they all seem to be working. The forum still seems to be up so maybe its just a glitch.

Terry

 

[apostolakisl]

Hmm, I've got 7 and they all seem to be working. The forum still seems to be up so maybe its just a glitch.

Terry

The folks on the forum are all like WTF????

Don't reboot your devices!

I hope they are just having some technical issues and aren't bankrupt.

 

[pete_c]

I did notice last night that I couldn't get to the dub dub dub chumby site.

There is a tweak on my base though that doesn't go to the internet to get the CP and only uses the locally saved one.

I will post the changes in the file such that it doesn't go out there. One Chumby just quit working a couple of weeks ago (some internal ps issue?). The other Chumby's are booting up initially into the CP; then shutting down CP, doing a CHROOT to plan old Linux X windows and immediately doing an RDP for being a touchscreen. They are still working just fine right now. Only thing is was I "gave" and set one up in a friends dental office with an off the shelf configuration.

The Chumby forum admins state that they are working on the issues.